Foster City CA Homes For Sale

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San Mateo County vs Santa Clara County Real Estate

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House Prices Converge In 2022

San Mateo County house prices vs. Santa Clara County house prices

For many years, San Mateo County house prices per sq. ft. were higher than Santa Clara County’s. In 2022, this changed, and the prices became very similar. With this occurring shortly after COVID restrictions being lifted, it was probably at least partially due to people leaving high-density areas such as San Francisco and working remotely.

Flat House Prices Near San Francisco

San Bruno house prices vs. San Mateo County house prices.

Cities near San Francisco, including Brisbane, Daly City, Pacifica, San Bruno, and South San Francisco, have had flatter house prices than San Mateo County averages.

Other Real Estate Trends Converge

San Bruno house age vs San Mateo County house age

The average age of a San Bruno house sold, shown by the strong red line in the graph above, increased more in 2019 than the average age of a San Mateo County house sold, shown by the faint red line. The median ages of the two areas track each other closely and rose steadily, indicating that fairly new houses had far fewer sales after 2019.

Considerations For Real Estate Trends

Rapid changes to real estate trends can occur for a number of reasons: economic crisis, interest rates, government housing policies, pandemics, speculation, etc. Some of the changes can be fairly short-term, such as the 2000 dot-com boom, while others have long-lasting impacts. Although a single event may trigger a rapid change, the impact on a city is modified by other factors.

“The Old Paradigm Of Low Interest Rates … Is Not Going To Return”

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Ken Rosen, the chairman of the Fisher Center For Real Estate, at Berkeley’s Hass School of Business, talked recently about future real estate trends. Two points stood out: 1.) The old paradigm of low interest rates is not going to return in the foreseeable future. 2.) The doubling of debt service costs and cap rates has decreased values and now may be the best opportunity to buy real estate below replacement costs we’ve had since the early 1990’s.

Foster City House Prices

Foster City house prices

Foster City real estate trends show relatively flat house prices after the price drop at the beginning of 2022. The drop in values Dr. Rosen talked about doesn’t apply to Foster City houses. However, he also brought up replacement costs. The increased financing cost and increased cost of materials has brought the construction of new market rate apartments to a halt in San Jose. Replacement costs have discouraged builders from starting new housing projects. With neither interest rates nor building costs likely to decrease, waiting for change before trying to achieve your housing goals is not likely to be a good plan.

Real estate economist Ken Rosen on YouTube.

Foster City House Prices Reach All-Time High But …

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So far, in the 3rd quarter of 2023, Foster City house prices have reached all-time highs for both average and median prices. Although the house price per sq. ft. has climbed during the last three quarters, it is not at an all-time high.

Average and median house price in Foster City.

Let’s look at Foster City real estate. The average size of houses sold in Foster City has spiked upward to an all-time high.

Average size of Foster City houses sold

There usually is quite a bit of variation in the average house size. However, Foster City, Los Altos Hills, Menlo Park, Millbrae, Pacifica, Portola Valley, San Carlos, San Mateo, and Woodside all show dramatic upward spikes in the average house size. In Santa Clara County, only Palo Alto shows a similar spike in average house size.

Looking through the real estate trends for these cities does not show any other significant changes. Historically, cities in San Mateo County have had a high San Francisco newspaper readership. Cities in Santa Clara County have had a high San Jose newspaper readership. Perhaps the continuing negative news for San Francisco is affecting the residents of nearby cities. Without any strong economic changes to lead people to move, people with fewer needs to stay put because of children (college age) or jobs (looking towards retirement) are more likely to move. If the trend continues, it may also show up in demographic data for age. Housing mandates from the state could also affect demographics and real estate trends masking other things.